It always gives me a chuckle when Brits refer to an American yard as a "garden". For most Americans, at least where I've lived, a "garden" is specifically the part of the yard where you grow flowers or vegetables (a flower garden or a vegetable garden, specifically, although sometimes people mix them together). But also we often have sections with bushes or flowers that aren't called a garden, they're just, like, decorative, along walkways, or right in front of the house, or maybe in the corners of the yard or whatever. The "lawn" is the grass part of the yard, obviously. You'd mow your lawn, but never mow your garden. So I guess that raises the question, what do Brits call the part of their garden where they specifically grow flowers or vegetables? What do you use the word "yard" to refer to, if anything? As they say, Britain and America are two great nations separated by a common language!
Beds Flower beds and vegetable beds all located within the garden (as is the lawn) A "yard" is usually a fully concreted over area usually associated with a business premises for storage of machinery etc
I'm the American suburban "weirdo" who admires English gardens. My small plot has zero lawn but it's crammed with fruit trees, native plants, herbs, vegetables, flowers, and a few hens in the back. I could never live with an HOA.
A lot of us further west would do better to emulate the English garden as we don't have the natural rainfall to sustain grass. At minimum we should downsize it to a usable size and use more plants. I love me some plants 😍🌳🌼
@@dwhit_272 I agree with you that a poly culture garden is more lively, feeds wildlife, feeds people, and conserves and protects fresh water resources. In the Western US there are plenty of native grasses, sedges, clovers, etc that can make a beautiful lawn, if people want one. Native lawns do fine on natural rainfall. But they don't resemble that solid one inch carpet covering a golf course or a soccer field.
I saw a small white sign in a yard I go by often. I thought it must have been a marker for a pet that had died there. Eventually I took the time to stop in my car a read it. It said : Here lies the body of the last person that let their dog poop on my lawn.
About dog ownership: I live in Dallas in an apartment complex. I owned a dog and now foster them. I know the names of about half the dogs in this place, and recognize the rest on sight. I don't know the names of any of their owners though. 🙂
Dogs are terrific social lubricants. I had lived near downtown Chicago for 27 years and knew none of the neighbors. Then I got a dog and bingo! Suddenly I was having conversations with strangers because having a dog makes you an approachable human being, no longer a potential threat. People would tell me about dogs they had known as children, their stories and quirks. Knew all of the dogs' names but none of the owners. Two years after my dog died I encountered a couple who wondered how he was since they hadn't seen us walking for a while. I had no idea who these people were, but they sure knew my dog. Having him was a life-changing event.
Reminds me of a reddit story about how someone knew their neighbor Steve. In their phone and in their mind, the owner of the dog in that apartment was Steve. Steve was the dog's name.
Suburbs have changed over the decades. I grew up in the suburbs in the 1960s and 1970s. Everyone knew everybody. There wasn’t a house in my neighborhood I hadn’t been in. We had block parties, holiday parades, the kids all walked to school together, and group activities. As the 80s began things began to change as our society changed. Less familiarity between neighbors and a tendency toward isolation. My brother owns the house we grew up in. He says the only neighbors he knows are the ones who moved there the same time we did (50 years ago).
truth - people stay to themselves in the suburbs nowadays. The '80s ushered in more TV channels, dual-income households, and less time outside and more inside playing video games. People started getting personal computers and spending more time in front of screens and less time talking to their neighbors. As incomes rose, people moved more and divorces spiked higher, forcing couples to sell their houses.
Definitely depends on the neighborhood. No chain link fences where I live, plenty of white fences, though. A lot of HOAs won't allow the British style garden and instead require grass lawns. (Abolish HOAs!)
The HOA can look at the deed, the mortgage, and the paychecks used to pay for everything. They all have MY name on it. I don't care who Little Miss HOA Manager thinks she is. It is MY house, which I paid for with MY paycheck, which means I do what I want with MY property. If she does not like that, I have a shotgun, and a copy of the Constitution.
Or, move into a neighborhood where whatever you want to do with your lot is fine. Mine is a wildlife habitat, no grass, no mowing, no leaf raking, no pesticides, no fertilizers. Nobody around me cares. It's great.
If you own the house, you own the land and you should be able to do whatever non-structural alterations you want, plant flowers, let the lawn grow, paint the house pink or replace the driveway with a garden.
@@ThatBaritoneGuitarGuy In some places, HOAs can foreclose on your home if you don't pay the fines you get for violating their rules. Acting tough won't keep them from stealing your house.
My favorite types of neighborhoods are the "streetcar suburbs" that developed in the early part of the 1900s. Smaller, detached houses on smaller lots, usually walking distance to a commercial downtown. Much cozier and doesn't feel as isolated, but not too crowded either, and being in walking distance of shops means my exercise routine can be more productive as well, and I don't need to use my car for absolutely everything. I've been renting in a 1920s streetcar suburb for about 9 months now and I love it. As a student in architecture history, Laurence's house looks to me like probably a 1940s wartime house, right at the end of the streetcar era, transitioning to the more famed postwar suburbs.
I live in a subdivision that was planned in the twenties but wasn't really built up until post war so I know what you mean about it's way more walkable then other subdivisions.
Yes, would be great to bring back the trams/streetcars! It looks like Lawrence may be in this kind of older "streetcar suburb" (even if the streetcars are gone now), maybe he can talk about that sometime (public transit, is there a train or bus service in his area, is it convenient, how does it compare to UK or elsewhere in the world.)
This is the way housing is done across Europe, with local or High Street shops within a reasonable distance. Unfortunately, the US motor industry put paid to that in the early part of the 1900s by pushing cars over public transport and you now haw the worlds biggest car park (parking lot) and very poor public transport and very poor housing estate designs favouring vehicles over walking.
@@OmniscientWarrior Yes, he's been residing here, and recently became a citizen, but this video gave me the impression that he is finally, truly, beginning to consider himself one of us.
I've lived in suburbs, on military bases, short term in a city, and in rural areas and I don't know if there's a name for it but I've found the "sweet spot" of living, at least in the US, is that twilight zone right where the suburbs end and rural begins. It's like the best of both worlds. Close enough to everything that you can get to anything you need or want in a 30 minute drive or less, but far enough out from the city to get a good stretch of land and a lot less neighbors. I don't know about anyone else but the worst part of suburbs was trying to sleep in on a Saturday with the sudden sound of 30 lawnmowers up and down the street dragging me out of bed. Not a problem in, uh, SuburbaRuralia.
I live in the country in that sweet spot on the I 94 corridor and can get to Chicago or Detroit in about 2+ hrs. Far away from Homeowners Associations. But they do shake the cherry trees across the street at 6 am but you know, trade offs. Lol.
We have that same mentality. We bought 46 acres just outside a small town (250 people), but we are only 30-45 minutes from a bigger city with all the services you need. Its nice knowing that because of the size of our property, our closest neighbor is over a mile away in any direction.
We have similar views on the sweet spot. I'd like to move there eventually. Currently I'm in a booming suburb and have to commute a fair distance. Beats living in a city. Did that for a while.
Plant an English type garden, Laurence! I planted a wild flower strip on one side of my driveway and enjoy the endless supply of butterflies and bees all summer. But be ready to have some neighbors act like flowers just growing all over and not tightly controlled in a concrete planter is a crime against suburbia. Ignore them, I did. They at last learned to leave me TF alone.
A friend of mine was married to an Englishman, he has passed away. Her backyard though is not as sculpted as an English garden, but she has a gazebo, little patches of different kinds of flowers all throughout the garden. It must be crazy to mow around all of it, because there aren't any straight lines, it's all circles and curves
@@NoobixCube i doubt Laurence and his wife live in an HOA, he looks like he lives in an older more established neighborhood, and HOAs typically dwell in newer developments
I don't know about Chicago, but here in Indy, the long strip of flowers and grasses I've planted along the street has gotten almost entirely positive feedback. The worst responses I've gotten were random people offering to mow one newly planted part of it.
Yes… so much criticism of suburbia is people talking about post-1960s suburbia - the huge houses on huge lots in the middle of nowhere. The truth is that pre-1960s suburbs are often very reasonably proportioned and walkable or semi-walkable, and do have a sense of place. But the houses are smaller and eventually everyone seems to want the big fat McMansions in modern suburbia or exurbia.
Postwar suburbs are rarely on rectangular street grids. The FHA published a manual in the '30s that specified curving streets and T intersections to reduce traffic speeds, and developments on that pattern got preferential loans.
Pro-tip: If mail is marked "Presorted Standard," it's 100% junk mail. You can look at it if you want, but you'll get the same offer again next week. If you want all of the bulk mail to stop, you can ask the Post Office to only deliver First Class mail. Then the deluge will largely stop.
The post office gets paid a lot for the pre-sorted to be delivered... You can't just opt out. Maybe your mail carrier is nice but if you go on r/USPS, you'll hear all the mail carriers laughing at people asking for this. You can pay for your name to be taken off mailing lists, of course, and refuse/mark return to sender named mail (not "or current resident"), though.
@@tiamotzz I spent some time working for the post office about a year ago (I only lasted 8 months as a clerk--good money, but 48+ hour weeks weren't for me). I asked our postmaster if that was possible & he replied: "if it was, don't you think I'd have done it?" That said, it may be a regional thing. When was the "you used to be able to" anyway"?
@@tiamotzz LMAO no. The Postal Service has an obligation to deliver any pre-paid parcel or papers to any valid address. It's quite a miracle of a service. You can't unsubscribe from mail. You can only ask that that senders stop sending things to you.
@@nigelwylie01 The problem with that system is that, while you are getting rid of half of your junk mail, you are getting rid of the "best" half of it (the reputable companies). That doesn't really improve the overall quality of your mail. A better system to reduce the mail you receive by half would be one where the Post Office would remove the reputable ones at the postal station, put them to the side, and when a disreputable one comes through, they replace it with one of the reputable ones. You end up with the same amount of mail (half of the original), but with a higher quality on average. The Post Office doesn't lose any money vs the original system, since they still end up delivering the same amount.
Older interior Chicago suburbs are not at all representative of what most Americans experience in suburbs. Rectangles (grid development) were thrown away in favor of cul-de-sac layouts that are sprawled as far as possible and are actively hostile to any form of transportation besides cars (to actually get anywhere, not just recreation), and residential-only zoning extends for miles in every direction.
Boston is like that. the boston neighborhoods are different from the suburbs and aren't considered as such. they are patrolled by boston police, fire dept. etc. really extended cities.
Lawrence. I have a pretty good idea where you live (not a stalker, genuine Chicago-phile). You do not live in a suburb. You live in a neighborhood. Basically, if you live within the city limits of a major metropolis and you can walk to the nearest grocery store or public library instead of getting into a car, you are not in a suburb.
He's not out in The burbs like Norridge evanston Wilmette niles... I think he's somewhere up there in one of those areas like Craigin, Logan square, Avondale, Jefferson Park, bucktown, wrigleyville etc still in the city limits not In a suburb
Rogers Park? North Mayfair? West Ridge? Norwood Park? Jefferson Park? I'm trying to guess too! Or if it's an actual suburb, Evanston? Oak Park? Berwyn? What do you think?
About quiet: City friends come out to OUR 'burbs and complain how NOISY it is, the crickets, birds, cicadas. They hardly notice the din in their homes: The trucks rumbling past, the cop and emergency services' sirens screaming. It's all what you're used to.
My Mom was a city girl and my Dad was a country boy. He thought that the city was noisy and my Mom thought that the country was noisy. They settled in the suburbs where I grew up. My Dad was fine with it, but my Mom still didn't like all the nature sounds and couldn't stand tree leaves falling on the ground. If my Dad had allowed it, she would've cut all our trees down.
I grew up in the suburbs and the sounds of frogs croaking reminds me of summer nights, sleeping with the window open. I live in the city with my 6 year old now and when he spent the night at my childhood home with the grandparents the frogs scared him 😂 Ditto with my partner who grew up in the city - to her, the near silence and birdsongs creeped her out. To her it meant, “Where did everyone go? What went wrong?”
Funny! I live in the city car-free and all I hear in my home is the traffic noise from all the suburbanites who come here to work and shop. I'm sure their homes are perfectly quiet and free from traffic, so they don't mind at all.
@@Frostbiker As a suburbanite, I can hear traffic way off in the distance, but that is usually during the morning and evening when the commuters are going to and from work. Otherwise, the most sounds I hear are the freight trains, the planes, dogs barking, and the birds and frogs on a regular day in the suburbs. On weekends I hear the mowers operating, the kids playing, the chainsaws buzzing, dogs still barking, more road traffic, trains and planes. It is harder to hear the nature sounds on the weekends than it is on the weekdays. At least I'm retired and can enjoy the weekdays in the suburbs.
I live in outskirts of medium city, with somewhat rural flavor. Even in hot summer (with AC on) I crack my window at night just a teeny bit so I can listen to crickets and cicadas sing. Feels like home (farm, 50s-60's). No AC then - sometimes put cots in yard and slept outside! (Sheet over head so no mosquito bites!)
As a Brit (living in UK) the word ‘yard’ always make me think of a small area of concrete outside with bins and tools rather than grass and flowers. It sounds soulless. A garden conjures up greenery and flowers and calm (not always the reality of course). I’m not a lover of suburbia (in any country) I like to be walking distance from shops and train stations so I’ve always lived in towns. I’m a five minute walk in to my local town but tucked away in a very quiet side street which to me is the perfect location. (Also a five minute walk to the sea so an ideal location all round).
In America those paved areas are sometimes still called yard just with an extra word. "Stockyard" and "Steelyard" are common examples but I've also have heard "workyard", "truckyard" (specifically a parking lot for very large trucks, skids and other heavy machinery) neither of which appear in any dictionary so maybe that's something more common among blue collar workers in the Midwest and South. You're not wrong though most American yards (or front gardens) are pretty damn soulless especially in the hellscape that's suburbia. For people "who care about their lawn" Typically it's 1 species of grass, 2 species of grass if they're feeling spicy. Rarely you'll see people have clover "perfectly" mixed in with the grass to provide just enough nitrogen all season long to keep their grass healthy without having to constantly maintain fertilizer. For people who don't care about their lawn it's large clumps of clover just as it grew in, dandelions, and a handful of other "weeds". Just those 2 types of people account for like 90% of all laws you would see in the states.
So true about the dog walking. I got to know a large group of people when I had dogs and we would all meet up in the mornings at the park and natter away! ( yes, I’m a British transplant) it was a very enjoyable time! I also had to point out I recognized your background music towards the end as the theme tune for some other very popular You Tubers called ‘ Adventures with Purpose’. I’m not here to plug them, it’s just a very noticeable tune! Lol Always love your videos!
I have no trespassing signs and no solicitors. They still come to my door. I have a door camera. I need to look at it and act like I'm not home. I do get people sending me mail wanting to buy my house. I love my suburban rural area. Quiet is nice. I don't know most of my neighbors. But I see them walking their dogs or walking themselves. My town has almost 50,000 people. The last few years have boomed.
There are definitely different suburbias. I hate the town I grew up in, but I’m in a town that’s much more city-like now (probably from the Midwestern perspective it would be considered part of the city) and I’m so much happier!
@@Grand1Admiral I prefer smallish cities (say, 10-20 thousand people) within reasonable driving distance to a large city but not close enough to be a suburb. (Currently, for example, I live in Galion, which is an hour from the north edge of greater Columbus.) 10 thousand people is big enough to have *most* things, so you don't have to drive to the big city very often. But anything under about 20k is small enough to not have big-city kinds of problems. The one downside is, cities in this size range don't usually have good restaurant options (*especially* if you want ethnic cuisine) or access to native speakers of foreign languages in any significant numbers. The latter is less critical now that we have internet, but yeah, I have to go to Columbus if I want decent ethnic food, so I don't get it very often. Since I enjoy cooking most of my own food, this is something I can live with, but I can easily imagine someone feeling differently about it. Also, "rural as heck" means completely different things depending on which part of the country you are in. In Ohio, "rural as heck" means there are so many farms that "Future Farmers of America" is the most popular extra-curricular at the local high school. In Montana, "rural as heck" means that you have to drive for a couple of hours to get to the nearest farm, much less a school.
@@jonadabtheunsightlyyou and I like the same kind of cities/towns for the same reasons. I'm in a small City on the East Coast, small enough that it feels like everyone knows everyone. I sometimes miss taking the train to my book club in Boston because I used to enjoy being on the train and seeing different faces and hearing different languages
@@LindaC616 I have no interest in trains (sorry, it's just not my kink), but yeah, hearing different languages occasionally would be nice. Living here, I have to use the internet for that.
First thing we did when we moved in to our house is to rip out the front yard and start a proper garden for the pollinators. Neighbors were dubious at first, but I get compliments now, so go for it!
@@brettbuck7362 Because it sucks and it makes you fat and lazy. It's an inefficient use of land and resources. It's shitty for the environment and it's simply more fun and better for you in all ways to be able to walk to places like restaurants, grocery stores, and work.
@@brettbuck7362 living in the city it’s nice to just walk places, not have to deal with traffic or parking. Just preference I guess. I live just outside of Detroit and it would be so nice to visit the city without the long drive and finding a safe place to park.
Yep, agree. I've lived in 5 countries but here in the US, it takes real planning to find a nice place to live that is walkable to everything. Almost everyone assumes that we 'need' a car here in the US. Well, maybe. It depends on the person, their age, and their lifestyle. My apartment is walkable to ALDI, Target, Walmart, the biggest mall in town, 5 ethnic grocery stores, and a handful of restaurants. Aside from needing the city bus to head downtown, everything I need is within a mile of my apartment. I can and do walk everywhere, even in the winter.
I was raised in a suburban house and now have my own. In my apartment days I never felt complete or successful. It's hard, after all, to escape the imprinting of youth. Suburban life has its critics, but I think it's pretty good. It's quiet. It's a house and land I own. I have hobbies. What's not to like?
Fences are mostly to keep dogs in. Kids too, to an extent. That way they can run around and play without suddenly ending up in the street. Then the kids get older or the dogs go on a leash and they can go out of the yard. Chainlink and wooden are both normal. The upside IMO about chainlink is that a strong storm can't knock it over unless a tree lands on it or something. Wood plank walls tend to act like sails lol
American suburbia is just about the safest place on planet earth. Really hoping those 500k houses come back down to 200k though because they're not worth it.
Laurence, when you saw the lawns in Florida in 1990 they may have ALL been green and more pristine because we don't have snow or cold weather to make the grass yellow part of the year. --- Just saying. Also, the people with the nicest lawns are pretty much old people who have a lot of time to cultivate their perfect lawns, and in Florida we do have a LOT of old people.
@@tomsherwood4650 gators are mostly harmless to humans, attacks on humans are quite rare. Now if you have a small animal like a dog, just don't let them near any body of water. If there is a body of water, unless it is something like a pool. Just assume there is a gator in it.
@@tomsherwood4650 I have lived in Central Florida for 63 years and I lived the FIRST 20 YEARS on a lake, and I have NEVER, not once, seen a gator in the wild. Though I think your chances of seeing one on the golf course are MUCH higher in South Florida because of that giant swamp down there called The Everglades, and how all of South Florida's cities are encroaching on that giant swamp full of gators . . . and some crocodiles.
Re: conversations with fellow dog owners… yes, it is definitely a thing. Mostly, I know people based on who their dogs are. Couldn’t tell you most of the humans’ names, but I usually know the dogs’ names.
@@jljordan1 even then I probably know the dog’s name. Not because we’ve stopped and chatted but because I’ve heard the owner saying “Fido, Leave It!” :)
Down here in the Southwest, you'll see less grass lawns and more xeriscaping especially where water use is a high concern. My previous place was on 10 acres in an old olive orchard up in Northern California; now here in Prescott, AZ I'm on a 1/4 acre with almost no vegetation other than a couple of trees. Oh, and Prescott is a big dog loving town.
You're not actually in suburbia but a very nice neighborhood of the city Suburbs really do have real gardens 😊 I was born in Chicago, in Bucktown area, moved to a town 50 miles north in the 50's and for the last 30+ years been a "cheese head" ( Wisconsin) I enjoy your videos. Loved the one about the weather 😂
I lived in Madison for 10 or 11 years. I really felt his pain on that weather video! You know someone is in a bad way when they start counting the days since the new year that they have seen the sunshine!
I don't think there is enough shown to know that for sure. I get the impression he might be in one of the older suburbs close to the edge of the Chicago. Places like Berwyn, Cicero, or Summit all look like this.
Gosh, how nice, a person brought you a cake.. I don’t even know my neighbors names and haven’t most places I’ve lived.. and it’s not for lack of trying. Dinner invites, goodies delivered, don’t be unappreciative feel fortunate . 👍
I can’t believe you used Suburban Commando as a reference about Suburbia! I worked on that movie years ago. Hulk Hogan was the nicest guy. Also the Undertaker played one of the character. Thanks for you channel!
I personally love the suburbs and don’t plan on moving. My husband and I just bought our first house about 10 mins from where we both grew up in Highlands Ranch, CO. I think we might be one of the youngest in our neighborhood at 31, but we love our new home and we can easily see our parents if we want to or if they need us for something.
As I get older quiet is what I want. Sit on my deck enjoy the day with a drink and not have craziness. Especially with what's going on with our government and society.
I agree. I want peace and quiet with a few birdies singing and more peace and quiet. I have a neighbor that sits on her step and yells into the phone like when I was a child and long distance meant talk loud! I don't think that is an issue anymore.
I see somebody already beat me to it below, but just to reiterate: In America, a garden is where you specifically grow plants, like a vegetable garden, flower garden, etc. The territory in front of your house is the front yard, and behind, it's the backyard. Calling the whole lot a "garden" sounds very bizarre. My own backyard is like a forest , nobody would ever say it's a "garden." lol. Sheesh. One quirk is that front yard is spelled as two words, while backyard is one.
When my British friend visited me here in the States she asked why nobody had a fenced yard in the front of the house, only fenced yards were in the back of houses. I didn’t really know the answer but guessed that it is perceived that you live in an unsafe neighborhood if you have the front yard fenced in. Like you are keeping people away from the front door. I thought it was an interesting observation on her part and definitely a difference in what we perceived as welcoming and safe in a house.
Just wait, my household gets several offers during the summer to fix/replace windows. Which we never take them up on because we want the original windows to the house that were put in the late 1800's.
The thing that gets lost in the urban/suburban discussion is the fact that both have good and bad things about them, but really urban life is for youth and singles, and suburban life is more for families and older people who appreciate quiet. Suburbs are also for people like me who like being close to the city life but also enjoy being in the countryside and nature.
Would disagree with that. Kids have no independence in many suburbs due to needing a car to get just about anywhere, so are dependent on parents. I can’t imagine growing up in a place where every house is a giant McMansion on a giant lot, seems so isolated. I used to walk to stores, friends houses, school, etc as a kid. Also, suburban sprawl is just about the worst thing for nature
@@kurtwerber8729 i think it depends on the suburb. if it’s your newer cul-de-sac type, yeah it’s terrible for kids. it is safe but for kids its bland. streetcar suburbs are different tho, or maybe old downtown of a suburb that was initially a small town
@@UserName-ts3sp its not really bland, if you look at early 1900s suburbs when they were first build literally every house looks exactly the same, no variation of floorplans either like you would find in post war suburbs, they only look good after 100 years of individualization
@@UserName-ts3sp sorry, i thought you meant it architecturally, the empty lawns everywhere is the blandest part because they could've been businesses or libraries or literally anything else other than plain boring ass grass
I agree with others in that you live in a neighborhood. My parents used to live in Chicago and always would talk about "the neighborhood". In their stories, it was quite a place. To me, your houses are on top of each other. You walk a dog and, yes, you will meet others doing the same with their dogs. Kids ride their bikes to the store (there is always "the store" on blocks in neighborhoods). I live in a subdivision that is technically in a rural area. My lawn is not that big for the area, but it's massive compared to yours. We don't like keeping up with plants, so we don't have any. I grew up in the country (parents had their fill of cities) but I much prefer suburbia. Here, we may nod at each other when passing by with our dogs, but that's about it.
If you are a more rural area I think technically you live in the exurbs. If you’re outside of the county of a medium to large city it would be an exurb.
I get the impression he might be in one of the older suburbs close to the edge of Chicago. Places like Berwyn, Cicero, or Summit all look like this. Houses right next to each other with maybe a 4 feet wide gap, garages in the back off an alley, almost all of them narrowish but more than one story. After you get out of the immediate suburbs (in my area is literally one degree of separation from the city limits) you start to get towns that look more like the traditional image of a suburb.
Remember years ago when we moved from near suburbs to fringe suburbs the quiet was deafening. I was like go start a car , get the dogs barking something I can’t sleep it’s too quiet!!!!!!
Oh I love you and your channel. I am a S.A. and so my culture is British😀. My grandparents were British so I follow everything British. We have lived in USA for 30 years now. Quite a culture shock in the beginning. Love it though👍
The town I’m near has old mansions where the former lawns/gardens surrounding them have been subdivided into average sized middle class lots. A lot of times the mansion isn’t a home anymore. It’s a restaurant, b&b, or a law office.
Most of the Mansions where I live have either become part of the preservation Society or subdivided into condos. If people can afford to keep them as one family homes, they are usually summer homes. I used to live in a historic mansion, in an apartment, and there was a business on the first floor. They said they sold the building, but I think that the LLC sold it to a smaller portion of the group, which became a new LLC, and they just revamped it. It's now listed as a one-family home, they put in a swimming pool with an automatic cover, and they are only renting it in the summer months for 125,000 a month
We grew up in a development that was built on an old Gimbel’s estate. The builder had bought the old stone mansion & surrounding land. Was very picky about who he sold to & what kind of house they wanted him to build. Mock Tudors were big back then. He limited our 25 house street to 4. Spread out & different sizes.
An area next to our subdivision had an estate sized home with several acres surrounding it. A developer bought the land and instead of demolishing the home, they remodeled it to be a high-end club house.
as someone who lives in a suburb, all these things are true. except for the abandoned houses. those aren't a thing in my particular suburb. at most you might have an empty house for a month before it's sold and someone moves in. mostly though they're sold by the time the realtor puts a "Coming Soon" sign up in the yard.
Your neighborhood actually looks ok to me, though different from the West Coast where I live. Here, most yards are fenced in, dog or no dog, at least partially. That helps if you dont want to talk to people, which I generally don't. I've lived in big cities, suburbs, and now, an exurb. We have bears, coyotes, and Elk here. I once ran into a huge Elk as she was coming around my house. That was exciting!
If you're wondering why everything is so rectangular, look up the American Public Land Survey System, and how it was applied to the Northwest Territory (where we live), versus the use of metes and bounds for surveying, which came to the Eastern US from England. Oh, and welcome to the Chicago Suburbs...I wasn't sure if you'd actually moved out of the city until now.
Thank you! I've been trying to remember the name of the plan. And, yes, it is the reason why almost everything west of Appalachia is in rectangles. So much more precise and convenient.
@@kathywiseley4382 Yeah, my area is in the Appalachian foothills and most of our counties are NOT rectangle - more rhombus, trapezoid, or triangular if you were to try to straighten out all of the squiggly lines.
The surveys began shortly after the Liuisisna purchase. The surveys led to the western expansion of the new territory. My ancestors purchased, not homesteaders, their land in Misdouri before or just after statehood. The land still had a few native Indians in the area, BTW. Each state began their expansion differently, so each had its own time of giving out land to settlers. Kansas divided land according to what was convenient for the railroads. Towns were set up sling the planned railroads. Quite the interesting explanation there.
metes and bounds can still be rectangular. my house in Missouri, built in 1880, is in metes and bounds, and it's a perfect rectangle. the only difference is you use landmarks instead of surveying stakes as the start point, but most have been converted for ease.
This is not an insult. Just a curiosity. Many people in big cities don't own cars. But almost everyone owns a vehicle in suburbia. Cheers. Congrats on the home. Oh, and there is something called a leaf rake. It will be a joy to use.
Laurence, you only need wait for your suburbia to become the city. This happened to my neighborhood; it was laid out in 1890 as a "streetcar suburb" of Austin, Texas, intended to be an upscale rural retreat. Now, 130 years later, the city has long since absorbed us and my house, once designated "out in the country," is part of the central city and some sources lump it with downtown.
Everyone thinks that there's a "normal" and that "normal" is typically associated with what they grew up in - but the reality is that the world doesn't stop moving, it's always changing, always evolving. Well, mostly, I definitely know of some towns that are stuck well in the past(rural farm or industry towns). Anyway, expect change because it's on it's way lol.
Hell, with as fast as Texas is growing that happens within 30 to 50 years. When I built a house in Mansfield in 2001, Dallas was in view but still very desolate. Now it's just another suburb and 3 times the size.
@@RyTrapp0 And what does THAT have to do with the price of wheat in India?? I remarked on the way cities grow and absorb once-remote communities in the process.
@@DGTelevsionNetwork Yep! Just ask Round Rock. When I moved to Austin in '75, Round Rock was 15 miles away and 5,000 people. Today, the two have grown completely together and RRk's population is 100,000.
Oh my gosh, so true about the dogs! We live in suburbs of Milwaukee. Our first home was in a suburb that was more starter homes, closer to city. Not as true there. But after we moved to another suburb, a wealthier one, we realized “holy cow, everyone has a dog”. My son with autism was terrified of dogs (terrified is an understatement) so we definitely became aware. Fast forward, through therapy and visits with a family member’s new puppy, my son overcame his fear and we then got a puppy. Suddenly we are meeting and chatting with neighbors on our walks. I know all the dog names better than the human names. We call them all my dog’s buddies. 😆
Suburban living and comfort can often depend on your neighbors. They may make your life miserable, but you can set an example. I for one feel lucky that my neighbors seem nice and inviting. I’m looking to project that welcome sentiment.
@@samanthab1923 You are 100% correct, unless your HOA consists of only 3-5 members, of which you are participating. And they all need to be owners at stake. The HOAs that are outsourced are money and life-dream drains, a lot have absolutely no human connection to the community they claim to serve. The HOA I was part of when I owned a condo consisted of 3 owners (1 tiny Boston building), and we sort of made our own rules. All owners.
Strange. When I think of how Brits live I think of "Keeping up Appearances." The tight little neighborhoods with small yards (if any at all) and the cute styles of packed together houses. Too bad they got old, that was one of my favorite shows! I very much enjoy your channel! You make points I never have even thought of!
Brits don't know what the f**k they are talking about when it comes to the US. not a single clue. you can't just visit here and think you got it all figured out.
OH! Now I understand why you've been using the wrong rake for the fallen leaves!! What you have there is a "garden" or "hard rake," meant for clearing larger heavier things from around soiled or mulched areas. You need a "yard" or "soft rake" for clearing leaves from the grass. The shovel from that video was hilarious though! 😂
Guess you got lucky with your quiet neighborhood. When we bought our house, we got along pretty well with our neighbors. Time has changed that with older (quiet) neighbors moving and crappy people moving in. Our property went from 3 neighbors to 7, all surrounding our 125 x 175 property. We are now the 'old' people here, and the friendly neighbors are now only 3. Lots of yelling at kids, loud fights (the adults!), extremely loud parties, and drunks being obnoxious at all hours of the day and night! I used to be able to work in my gardens and enjoy the sounds of nature. Now it's listening to others' music being played loud enough to hear several blocks away or families fighting (sober and drunk)! Enjoy your quiet! It's a rare opportunity.
We're down the street from mansions. Our grass always looks like it's on death's doorstep but our neighbor's looks like a carpet, which is weird because we pay the same gardener to look after it. Even though it is quiet, the neighbors still find plenty to complain about on Nextdoor, like, "Somebody knocked on my door!"
Lawrence, your leaf raking would be a lot more productive and take a lot less energy if you'd buy a leaf rake. What you're using is a garden rake which is a wonderful tool for leveling loose earth or for levelling the gravel in a driveway but sucks for raking up leaves with. A leaf rake has longer, often spring loaded tines and holds and releases a much larger volume of leaves than a garden rake can. Save the garden rake for evening piles of mulch. Work smarter, not harder. :)
As someone who lives in the suburbs in Illinois, no one near me has chain link fences. It’s all wooden or vinyl fencing. Also, many people around me have some type of garden. Usually a flower garden in the front yard and a vegetable garden in the back.
My favorite movie about suburban life? “The ‘Burbs” with Tom Hanks! A must watch. Another Tom Hanks movie, not as good, but also an insight into new home ownership is “The Money Pit”.
I love watching those channels where the lawn company will come out and take care of someone's grass and landscape and everything for free... 😊 Oftentimes the folks that live there are disabled or going through a real rough time and taking care of their yard really makes them feel less stressed or just cared about
Ooo Laurence, welcome to dog walking in America. You can try to be a curmudgeon if you like but your cute pup will give you away every time and will force you to become a dog-loving, people person. 😂
I've lived all my 51 years in Australian suburbia. My no. 1 takeaway is that driving your car is the centre of your existence. I can only imagine American suburbia is moreso. How does Lawrence manage to live there without driving?
I grew up in Chicago and I lived so far on the Southside, that it was like a suburb. It is called Chatham and it is middle to upper middle class black area. Perfectly shaped lawns, clean alleys and sidewalks. Boring sometimes, especially on Sundays. To this day it is still well kept up.
Your observations are pretty much spot on. Being here all my life, I'm quite blind to everything you mentioned, but now that you mentioned it, I agree and can see it from your red spectacles. Welcome home!!!
Laurence, I have lived in several different kinds of places here in America. I am American. For the first time ever I am living somewhere that I have always wanted to. I live in the country. Rural Wisconsin. I moved here in 2005 and I never tire of absolute silence, except in the winter when the wind literally howls. For instance, if I'm outside and I hear someone speaking, something is definitely wrong. Literal silence.
@@tekay44 we moved here after my husband retired. I had a job here before we got here. We lived in our camper while we built our house. We arrived on a Saturday and I started work here on Monday. I'm retired now and I just love it here. I live about an hour from where I grew up. I live within an hour from 3 different cities, but stuck happily in the middle. The closest grocery store is 10 miles from my house. Maine must be beautiful.
The lawn thing falls apart in the west the more drought and desert-prone your climate is. There is a movement in Southern California to move back toward drought tolerant and native plants because they don't require extensive irrigation like non-native grasses. A lot of people also plant drought-tolerant pollinator-friendly yards that do look a bit more like an English garden than what you have in parts of the country that get precipitation during spring, summer, and autumn. California gets almost all its precipitation in the winter. Arizona gets summer thunderstorms, but it doesn't soak in because of the heat and dryness.
@Casey Matto irrigation is severely restricted in some parts of the west. People have been ripping out for synthetic turf or converting their entire fron yards into butterfly gardens or drought tolerant landscaping or native plants. IMO it's actually much prettier to have all the native stuff.
Oooo Laurence! Too many people have to be continuously entertained. That's why so many people take "quiet" to mean "boring" or they like drama. To me quiet means quiet. Not people distracting me with their drama. People can't be bothered or can't stand living in their own thoughts. When I hear someone call an area or town "boring" I take it to mean they are a needy, unimaginative person that hates being stuck in their own skin.
A house a couple of blocks away from me had a very nice lawn with nicely contoured ground, lots of flowers, and a very nice palm tree. Mine just has bushes against the house, an ugly tree on either side, and one larger tree in the center
In re. lawns in America. No, we do not garden or perform any other ascetic tasks aside from mounting, once and for all, Christmas lights, which shall remain attached thereto, forever. We prefer that simple commercial look (your S & L, your local school) which, aside from needing tons of fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides, is no trouble at all.... What it comes down to is that the mobility of Americans, chiefly because of jobs, requires you to abstain from really personal touches to your real estate because you may have to put it up for sale any time.
I used to live on the NW side of Chicago, near my grandparents. Their observation was that any front yard with an abundance of flowers--aka a garden--was probably owned by immigrants (Polish, in our area). Back yard gardens were more common but not universal. In fact, I think someone on that street completely paved over their back yard.
They still have to drive to work and to do any shopping, among many other things. I do not own a car, and I never will. Excellent walking and biking infrastructure, with plenty of shops and parks within easy walking distance, along with great public transportation, makes that possible. Just by walking to and from work each, I get more than the minimum amount of exercise for optimal health. I also never gain weight, regardless of how much beer I drink or how much I eat. I lived in the US for about 50 years, and I am glad to be away from all that suburban nonsense. A local cop actually harassed me for walking on an empty summer street in Texas, frisking me and calling in my license number. He trumped up a reason, but he was profiling me. He gave me an enduring ugly memory. That is his legacy with me.
@@kaninma7237 Nice try. Never gain weight no matter how much you drink or eat? lol good one. Sounds like you've picked up the British habit of hyperbole.
@@kaninma7237 In Pittsburgh, for example, if you don't want to be totally car dependent you can live somewhere like Mt. Lebanon, which is outside of the city limits and completely interconnected with sidewalks and bike paths. Older suburbs that were built up prior to the 1950s and 60s are generally very walkable. The idea that suburban life has to be an entirely car dependent one is a major misconception. Honestly, most US cities don't have good public transit anyways. New York City is the only city in the US where the majority of the population uses public transportation, and in Most US cities, not even 30% of the population uses it (the majority of those sitting under 20%). The odds that someone works right down the block from where they live is slim, and statistically not that many people bike or walk to work (even in cities), so most are driving to and from work anyways, excluding New York which is the only exception, so statistically most people rely on a car regardless of whether they're living in the city or not. Point is, if where, and how you live, makes you happy, that's great, but that doesn't mean it's what's right for the rest of the population, especially considering that the majority of the population seemingly doesn't want to, or doesn't care enough to live that way.
@@kaninma7237 on god. Fuck having a car. In Minnesota while I was walking I was profiled too with my friends in the suburb and they asked us if we were breaking into any houses
@@kaninma7237 and that was before George Floyd. The police in Minnesota have always been corrupt. I saw a police officer hit my mom with a police bat inside my house as a kid and she was just standing still and then made eye contact with me
As for the knocks on the door, our city has a DO NOT Knock Registry and you get a sticker to put on your doors. Fairly effective. If someone does happen to be rude enough to knock, I simply don't answer the door. Just because you come to my door, it doesn't mean I have to acknowledge you. Our city also has way too many rules about the front yard. so we have to keep it mowed. The back, however, is ours ( not sure they agree, but their rules are made to be broken. We don't use any chemical fertilizers or weed killers, so even the front has delightful flowers that they may consider weeds like clover. This year I got clover seeds and a bunch of wildflower seeds to scatter in back. You do you!
I considered moving to Madison Sd. 10,000 people. 4000 student state college. When I asked where the Home Depot or walmart was, They told me in Brookings of Sioux Falls. 45/50 miles away. A one hour drive each way. They are 3 to 6 miles from where I live. and I have 8 grocery stores within 7 miles.
it's interesting because so much of what you say in this video is just not the case where I live at all (Arizona). Most people don't have grass in their yards here, for example. And there certainly aren't people coming to your house with cakes, at least not in my experience. For some reason all of our roads are tarmac despite the heat, and there aren't any real sidewalks to speak of, so other than dog-owners no one walks at all. Also we usually have fences/walls between houses. Everything is certainly rectangle here just like it is where you live though.
Honestly, having grown up in American suburbia, I HATE them. Part of this is because I have a type of neurodivergency that made learning to drive much, much harder than it was for my siblings and peers. Trying to walk out of my suburb would take almost an hour of meandering through this massive maze of near-identical houses. I would take these walks almost every day because it was so boring inside, I needed to get anywhere else, even if it was just an empty park or a crappy strip mall. If you can drive and get somewhere interesting quickly, I guess they aren't so bad in the short term. But in the long term, that makes us dependent on gas in a way that is bad for both the environment and the economy. Small towns, in my experience, have all the benefits of suburbia but without the monotony or inaccessibility.
It doesn't completely stop the door knockers but it helps, a simple "No Soliciting" sign. You can buy them just about anywhere, you can put it on your door or on a post by your steps or on the fence. In some communities it's illegal to solicit if the sign is posted which means you can call the police and have the offender ticketed. Picket fences have a lot of upkeep and take more work to put up because you have to make the pickets appear straight. When the ground freezes and thaws the fence raises or settles in 1 spot and suddenly it's all wonky.
I am dealing with a new puppy now. It has been nine years since my old dog and I dealt with puppy pandemonium all day. I left them alone to work out their differences and when I came back they were In completely different rooms. Old dog was taking a nap.
As someone who grew up in a Midwestern suburb, I couldn't think of a better place to raise a child. (be raised) I'm not saying it was "perfect" by any means, but it was peaceful and (mostly) safe. (which I think is VERY important) Hope you are enjoying your suburban life too Lawrence.
I enjoy living in the country away from the people and houses right on top of each other. We have about a dozen houses on my street in a 1 mile stretch and farms in between. I grew up in a subdivision and it was nice when we had good neighbors and horrible when we did not...
@@LindaC616 The problem is, loud neighbors project over good fences. I like my peace and quite and prefer not to hear the living embodiment of a Jerry Springer episode or Friday night house party.
For Heavens sake Lawrence, clean the paint-over off of those window frames ! These 'mission-style' elements are very nice to see. Their details are highly sought after. But, I don't call your neighborhood 'suburbia', to us, suburbia is farther out, your still 'city' by my standards !
I've lived in the burbs in central Massachusetts for about 90% of my life. I love it! My town is tiny, about 8,000 people tops, only 2 stop lights . I will never move back to Boston, where I spent my college years, for all the money in the world.
@@SlabSheetrock Me, too! But mine is not a burb but a small town of about 5, 600 people. When I was a kid in the 70s we had 1300. I live in NY now but I sure miss my small town and love it when I go back to see my elderly dad.
It always gives me a chuckle when Brits refer to an American yard as a "garden". For most Americans, at least where I've lived, a "garden" is specifically the part of the yard where you grow flowers or vegetables (a flower garden or a vegetable garden, specifically, although sometimes people mix them together). But also we often have sections with bushes or flowers that aren't called a garden, they're just, like, decorative, along walkways, or right in front of the house, or maybe in the corners of the yard or whatever. The "lawn" is the grass part of the yard, obviously. You'd mow your lawn, but never mow your garden.
So I guess that raises the question, what do Brits call the part of their garden where they specifically grow flowers or vegetables? What do you use the word "yard" to refer to, if anything?
As they say, Britain and America are two great nations separated by a common language!
To a Brit, a yard is a very tall glass of ale.
A yard is a measurement. 3 ft = 1 yard
Beds Flower beds and vegetable beds all located within the garden (as is the lawn)
A "yard" is usually a fully concreted over area usually associated with a business premises for storage of machinery etc
It's like referring to all desserts as pudding. How do you distinguish actual pudding?
@@miafarrago4941 Cold custard?
I'm the American suburban "weirdo" who admires English gardens. My small plot has zero lawn but it's crammed with fruit trees, native plants, herbs, vegetables, flowers, and a few hens in the back. I could never live with an HOA.
HOA = Home Oppressors Association
A lot of us further west would do better to emulate the English garden as we don't have the natural rainfall to sustain grass. At minimum we should downsize it to a usable size and use more plants.
I love me some plants 😍🌳🌼
@@dwhit_272 I agree with you that a poly culture garden is more lively, feeds wildlife, feeds people, and conserves and protects fresh water resources. In the Western US there are plenty of native grasses, sedges, clovers, etc that can make a beautiful lawn, if people want one. Native lawns do fine on natural rainfall. But they don't resemble that solid one inch carpet covering a golf course or a soccer field.
Me either! Thanks for the comment, I can't understand the people who want to live in the "perfect, ideal" HOA neighborhood.
If nothing else a great excuse to lower the amount of mowing you have to do.
Tip: Put a "NO SOLICITING" sign on your front door.
It doesn't work now a days.
Sales guys ignore those completely 😂
I live in a suburb of Omaha, and my sign has worked like a charm...
Pro tip: bring out your Koran to fend off the solicitors 😂
"Watch for hornets - three nests" works
I saw a small white sign in a yard I go by often. I thought it must have been a marker for a pet that had died there. Eventually I took the time to stop in my car a read it. It said : Here lies the body of the last person that let their dog poop on my lawn.
Americans own a lot of guns, even in the suburbs.
@@djquinn11 Have to be able to protect ourselves if we need to. This didn't say anything about a gun though. It was just a funny sign. Lighten up.
It’s right up with those signs, “No trespassing. We’re tired of hiding the bodies!”
No one who’d actually DO that would advertise. 😂
Hard to feel threatened by someone who uses the word ‘poop’…
About dog ownership: I live in Dallas in an apartment complex. I owned a dog and now foster them. I know the names of about half the dogs in this place, and recognize the rest on sight. I don't know the names of any of their owners though. 🙂
Dogs are terrific social lubricants. I had lived near downtown Chicago for 27 years and knew none of the neighbors. Then I got a dog and bingo! Suddenly I was having conversations with strangers because having a dog makes you an approachable human being, no longer a potential threat. People would tell me about dogs they had known as children, their stories and quirks. Knew all of the dogs' names but none of the owners. Two years after my dog died I encountered a couple who wondered how he was since they hadn't seen us walking for a while. I had no idea who these people were, but they sure knew my dog. Having him was a life-changing event.
Reminds me of a reddit story about how someone knew their neighbor Steve. In their phone and in their mind, the owner of the dog in that apartment was Steve. Steve was the dog's name.
I live in an apartment building of about 1,000 residents, many of whom are dog owners. I only know the dog owners as 'insert dog name here mom or dad'
priorities 😂
Dogs are better people than people are normally
Suburbs have changed over the decades. I grew up in the suburbs in the 1960s and 1970s. Everyone knew everybody. There wasn’t a house in my neighborhood I hadn’t been in. We had block parties, holiday parades, the kids all walked to school together, and group activities. As the 80s began things began to change as our society changed. Less familiarity between neighbors and a tendency toward isolation. My brother owns the house we grew up in. He says the only neighbors he knows are the ones who moved there the same time we did (50 years ago).
truth - people stay to themselves in the suburbs nowadays. The '80s ushered in more TV channels, dual-income households, and less time outside and more inside playing video games. People started getting personal computers and spending more time in front of screens and less time talking to their neighbors. As incomes rose, people moved more and divorces spiked higher, forcing couples to sell their houses.
Definitely depends on the neighborhood. No chain link fences where I live, plenty of white fences, though. A lot of HOAs won't allow the British style garden and instead require grass lawns. (Abolish HOAs!)
HOA are evil!
The HOA can look at the deed, the mortgage, and the paychecks used to pay for everything. They all have MY name on it. I don't care who Little Miss HOA Manager thinks she is. It is MY house, which I paid for with MY paycheck, which means I do what I want with MY property. If she does not like that, I have a shotgun, and a copy of the Constitution.
Or, move into a neighborhood where whatever you want to do with your lot is fine. Mine is a wildlife habitat, no grass, no mowing, no leaf raking, no pesticides, no fertilizers. Nobody around me cares. It's great.
If you own the house, you own the land and you should be able to do whatever non-structural alterations you want, plant flowers, let the lawn grow, paint the house pink or replace the driveway with a garden.
@@ThatBaritoneGuitarGuy In some places, HOAs can foreclose on your home if you don't pay the fines you get for violating their rules.
Acting tough won't keep them from stealing your house.
"In suburbia there is always four sides to every argument" and five opinions.
My favorite types of neighborhoods are the "streetcar suburbs" that developed in the early part of the 1900s. Smaller, detached houses on smaller lots, usually walking distance to a commercial downtown. Much cozier and doesn't feel as isolated, but not too crowded either, and being in walking distance of shops means my exercise routine can be more productive as well, and I don't need to use my car for absolutely everything. I've been renting in a 1920s streetcar suburb for about 9 months now and I love it. As a student in architecture history, Laurence's house looks to me like probably a 1940s wartime house, right at the end of the streetcar era, transitioning to the more famed postwar suburbs.
I love the sound of that
I take it that you don't have a large dog. I prefer larger lots for my dogs.
I live in a subdivision that was planned in the twenties but wasn't really built up until post war so I know what you mean about it's way more walkable then other subdivisions.
Yes, would be great to bring back the trams/streetcars! It looks like Lawrence may be in this kind of older "streetcar suburb" (even if the streetcars are gone now), maybe he can talk about that sometime (public transit, is there a train or bus service in his area, is it convenient, how does it compare to UK or elsewhere in the world.)
This is the way housing is done across Europe, with local or High Street shops within a reasonable distance. Unfortunately, the US motor industry put paid to that in the early part of the 1900s by pushing cars over public transport and you now haw the worlds biggest car park (parking lot) and very poor public transport and very poor housing estate designs favouring vehicles over walking.
Welcome to America Laurence. Whenever I grow pessimistic about the state of our country, your videos always cheer me up again.
Welcome? He has been a citizen for a little while but has been in America for years.
@@OmniscientWarrior Yes, he's been residing here, and recently became a citizen, but this video gave me the impression that he is finally, truly, beginning to consider himself one of us.
I've lived in suburbs, on military bases, short term in a city, and in rural areas and I don't know if there's a name for it but I've found the "sweet spot" of living, at least in the US, is that twilight zone right where the suburbs end and rural begins. It's like the best of both worlds. Close enough to everything that you can get to anything you need or want in a 30 minute drive or less, but far enough out from the city to get a good stretch of land and a lot less neighbors. I don't know about anyone else but the worst part of suburbs was trying to sleep in on a Saturday with the sudden sound of 30 lawnmowers up and down the street dragging me out of bed. Not a problem in, uh, SuburbaRuralia.
That's how Bay View is in Wisconsin
I live in the country in that sweet spot on the I 94 corridor and can get to Chicago or Detroit in about 2+ hrs. Far away from Homeowners Associations. But they do shake the cherry trees across the street at 6 am but you know, trade offs. Lol.
We have that same mentality. We bought 46 acres just outside a small town (250 people), but we are only 30-45 minutes from a bigger city with all the services you need. Its nice knowing that because of the size of our property, our closest neighbor is over a mile away in any direction.
We have similar views on the sweet spot. I'd like to move there eventually. Currently I'm in a booming suburb and have to commute a fair distance. Beats living in a city. Did that for a while.
Plano, IL
Plant an English type garden, Laurence! I planted a wild flower strip on one side of my driveway and enjoy the endless supply of butterflies and bees all summer. But be ready to have some neighbors act like flowers just growing all over and not tightly controlled in a concrete planter is a crime against suburbia. Ignore them, I did. They at last learned to leave me TF alone.
A friend of mine was married to an Englishman, he has passed away. Her backyard though is not as sculpted as an English garden, but she has a gazebo, little patches of different kinds of flowers all throughout the garden. It must be crazy to mow around all of it, because there aren't any straight lines, it's all circles and curves
If he did, his HOA would probably fine him for having his chrysanthemums an inch too tall or something. That's the American dream.
@@NoobixCube i doubt Laurence and his wife live in an HOA, he looks like he lives in an older more established neighborhood, and HOAs typically dwell in newer developments
I don't know about Chicago, but here in Indy, the long strip of flowers and grasses I've planted along the street has gotten almost entirely positive feedback. The worst responses I've gotten were random people offering to mow one newly planted part of it.
Biggest problem, Lawrence is In Chicago, (I'm further north in St Paul, MN) is the shorter growing season.
You are in pre-WWII American suburbia--it's different, and a lot more charming than post-war suburbia.
By which you mean "white people neighborhoods". Funny how that works.
I realized that as soon as he claimed everything was rectangular! Modern suburbs are stupid and unconnecting to anything curly-qs.
Time travel
Yes… so much criticism of suburbia is people talking about post-1960s suburbia - the huge houses on huge lots in the middle of nowhere. The truth is that pre-1960s suburbs are often very reasonably proportioned and walkable or semi-walkable, and do have a sense of place. But the houses are smaller and eventually everyone seems to want the big fat McMansions in modern suburbia or exurbia.
Postwar suburbs are rarely on rectangular street grids. The FHA published a manual in the '30s that specified curving streets and T intersections to reduce traffic speeds, and developments on that pattern got preferential loans.
Pro-tip: If mail is marked "Presorted Standard," it's 100% junk mail. You can look at it if you want, but you'll get the same offer again next week. If you want all of the bulk mail to stop, you can ask the Post Office to only deliver First Class mail. Then the deluge will largely stop.
The post office gets paid a lot for the pre-sorted to be delivered... You can't just opt out. Maybe your mail carrier is nice but if you go on r/USPS, you'll hear all the mail carriers laughing at people asking for this. You can pay for your name to be taken off mailing lists, of course, and refuse/mark return to sender named mail (not "or current resident"), though.
@@emma70707 Yes you can. At least you used to be able to. There was a way to get it blocked.
@@tiamotzz I spent some time working for the post office about a year ago (I only lasted 8 months as a clerk--good money, but 48+ hour weeks weren't for me). I asked our postmaster if that was possible & he replied: "if it was, don't you think I'd have done it?" That said, it may be a regional thing. When was the "you used to be able to" anyway"?
@@tiamotzz LMAO no. The Postal Service has an obligation to deliver any pre-paid parcel or papers to any valid address. It's quite a miracle of a service.
You can't unsubscribe from mail. You can only ask that that senders stop sending things to you.
@@nigelwylie01 The problem with that system is that, while you are getting rid of half of your junk mail, you are getting rid of the "best" half of it (the reputable companies). That doesn't really improve the overall quality of your mail.
A better system to reduce the mail you receive by half would be one where the Post Office would remove the reputable ones at the postal station, put them to the side, and when a disreputable one comes through, they replace it with one of the reputable ones. You end up with the same amount of mail (half of the original), but with a higher quality on average. The Post Office doesn't lose any money vs the original system, since they still end up delivering the same amount.
Older interior Chicago suburbs are not at all representative of what most Americans experience in suburbs.
Rectangles (grid development) were thrown away in favor of cul-de-sac layouts that are sprawled as far as possible and are actively hostile to any form of transportation besides cars (to actually get anywhere, not just recreation), and residential-only zoning extends for miles in every direction.
Boston is like that. the boston neighborhoods are different from the suburbs and aren't considered as such. they are patrolled by boston police, fire dept. etc. really extended cities.
Lawrence. I have a pretty good idea where you live (not a stalker, genuine Chicago-phile). You do not live in a suburb. You live in a neighborhood. Basically, if you live within the city limits of a major metropolis and you can walk to the nearest grocery store or public library instead of getting into a car, you are not in a suburb.
@Gretchen K. 1942 per Lawrence.
He's not out in The burbs like Norridge evanston Wilmette niles...
I think he's somewhere up there in one of those areas like Craigin, Logan square, Avondale, Jefferson Park, bucktown, wrigleyville etc still in the city limits not In a suburb
He is not in Chicago itself as his gas meter is "N.I. Gas" (previous video on his house).
Rogers Park? North Mayfair? West Ridge? Norwood Park? Jefferson Park? I'm trying to guess too! Or if it's an actual suburb, Evanston? Oak Park? Berwyn? What do you think?
@@StellaMayfair7 I'm thinking Oak Park
About quiet: City friends come out to OUR 'burbs and complain how NOISY it is, the crickets, birds, cicadas. They hardly notice the din in their homes: The trucks rumbling past, the cop and emergency services' sirens screaming. It's all what you're used to.
My Mom was a city girl and my Dad was a country boy. He thought that the city was noisy and my Mom thought that the country was noisy. They settled in the suburbs where I grew up. My Dad was fine with it, but my Mom still didn't like all the nature sounds and couldn't stand tree leaves falling on the ground. If my Dad had allowed it, she would've cut all our trees down.
I grew up in the suburbs and the sounds of frogs croaking reminds me of summer nights, sleeping with the window open. I live in the city with my 6 year old now and when he spent the night at my childhood home with the grandparents the frogs scared him 😂 Ditto with my partner who grew up in the city - to her, the near silence and birdsongs creeped her out. To her it meant, “Where did everyone go? What went wrong?”
Funny! I live in the city car-free and all I hear in my home is the traffic noise from all the suburbanites who come here to work and shop. I'm sure their homes are perfectly quiet and free from traffic, so they don't mind at all.
@@Frostbiker As a suburbanite, I can hear traffic way off in the distance, but that is usually during the morning and evening when the commuters are going to and from work. Otherwise, the most sounds I hear are the freight trains, the planes, dogs barking, and the birds and frogs on a regular day in the suburbs. On weekends I hear the mowers operating, the kids playing, the chainsaws buzzing, dogs still barking, more road traffic, trains and planes. It is harder to hear the nature sounds on the weekends than it is on the weekdays. At least I'm retired and can enjoy the weekdays in the suburbs.
I live in outskirts of medium city, with somewhat rural flavor. Even in hot summer (with AC on) I crack my window at night just a teeny bit so I can listen to crickets and cicadas sing. Feels like home (farm, 50s-60's). No AC then - sometimes put cots in yard and slept outside! (Sheet over head so no mosquito bites!)
As a Brit (living in UK) the word ‘yard’ always make me think of a small area of concrete outside with bins and tools rather than grass and flowers. It sounds soulless. A garden conjures up greenery and flowers and calm (not always the reality of course). I’m not a lover of suburbia (in any country) I like to be walking distance from shops and train stations so I’ve always lived in towns. I’m a five minute walk in to my local town but tucked away in a very quiet side street which to me is the perfect location. (Also a five minute walk to the sea so an ideal location all round).
In America those paved areas are sometimes still called yard just with an extra word. "Stockyard" and "Steelyard" are common examples but I've also have heard "workyard", "truckyard" (specifically a parking lot for very large trucks, skids and other heavy machinery) neither of which appear in any dictionary so maybe that's something more common among blue collar workers in the Midwest and South.
You're not wrong though most American yards (or front gardens) are pretty damn soulless especially in the hellscape that's suburbia.
For people "who care about their lawn" Typically it's 1 species of grass, 2 species of grass if they're feeling spicy. Rarely you'll see people have clover "perfectly" mixed in with the grass to provide just enough nitrogen all season long to keep their grass healthy without having to constantly maintain fertilizer.
For people who don't care about their lawn it's large clumps of clover just as it grew in, dandelions, and a handful of other "weeds".
Just those 2 types of people account for like 90% of all laws you would see in the states.
The white picket fence thing may be regional. I live in a Missouri suburb and they are everywhere.
So true about the dog walking. I got to know a large group of people when I had dogs and we would all meet up in the mornings at the park and natter away! ( yes, I’m a British transplant) it was a very enjoyable time!
I also had to point out I recognized your background music towards the end as the theme tune for some other very popular You Tubers called ‘ Adventures with Purpose’. I’m not here to plug them, it’s just a very noticeable tune! Lol
Always love your videos!
Adventures with a purpose is a fantastic channel! Lol
I still remember the dogs names, not so much my neighbors 😂
I have no trespassing signs and no solicitors. They still come to my door. I have a door camera. I need to look at it and act like I'm not home. I do get people sending me mail wanting to buy my house. I love my suburban rural area. Quiet is nice. I don't know most of my neighbors. But I see them walking their dogs or walking themselves. My town has almost 50,000 people. The last few years have boomed.
@Kathleen R yes thank you. I didn't proofread.
Get a recording of a giant breed dog barking. The JW's no longer visit me 😊
@@zippymacadoo6336 I will try that
There are definitely different suburbias. I hate the town I grew up in, but I’m in a town that’s much more city-like now (probably from the Midwestern perspective it would be considered part of the city) and I’m so much happier!
I moved from the inner City to the rural as heck. So much better
@@Grand1Admiral I prefer smallish cities (say, 10-20 thousand people) within reasonable driving distance to a large city but not close enough to be a suburb. (Currently, for example, I live in Galion, which is an hour from the north edge of greater Columbus.) 10 thousand people is big enough to have *most* things, so you don't have to drive to the big city very often. But anything under about 20k is small enough to not have big-city kinds of problems.
The one downside is, cities in this size range don't usually have good restaurant options (*especially* if you want ethnic cuisine) or access to native speakers of foreign languages in any significant numbers. The latter is less critical now that we have internet, but yeah, I have to go to Columbus if I want decent ethnic food, so I don't get it very often. Since I enjoy cooking most of my own food, this is something I can live with, but I can easily imagine someone feeling differently about it.
Also, "rural as heck" means completely different things depending on which part of the country you are in. In Ohio, "rural as heck" means there are so many farms that "Future Farmers of America" is the most popular extra-curricular at the local high school. In Montana, "rural as heck" means that you have to drive for a couple of hours to get to the nearest farm, much less a school.
@@jonadabtheunsightlyyou and I like the same kind of cities/towns for the same reasons. I'm in a small City on the East Coast, small enough that it feels like everyone knows everyone. I sometimes miss taking the train to my book club in Boston because I used to enjoy being on the train and seeing different faces and hearing different languages
@@LindaC616 I have no interest in trains (sorry, it's just not my kink), but yeah, hearing different languages occasionally would be nice. Living here, I have to use the internet for that.
@@jonadabtheunsightly I get it 🙂
First thing we did when we moved in to our house is to rip out the front yard and start a proper garden for the pollinators. Neighbors were dubious at first, but I get compliments now, so go for it!
The biggest problem with suburbia is almost total car dependency. You can go nowhere without getting in a car.
Why is that a problem?
@@brettbuck7362 Because it sucks and it makes you fat and lazy. It's an inefficient use of land and resources. It's shitty for the environment and it's simply more fun and better for you in all ways to be able to walk to places like restaurants, grocery stores, and work.
@@brettbuck7362 living in the city it’s nice to just walk places, not have to deal with traffic or parking. Just preference I guess. I live just outside of Detroit and it would be so nice to visit the city without the long drive and finding a safe place to park.
@@brettbuck7362 fat people
Yep, agree. I've lived in 5 countries but here in the US, it takes real planning to find a nice place to live that is walkable to everything. Almost everyone assumes that we 'need' a car here in the US. Well, maybe. It depends on the person, their age, and their lifestyle. My apartment is walkable to ALDI, Target, Walmart, the biggest mall in town, 5 ethnic grocery stores, and a handful of restaurants. Aside from needing the city bus to head downtown, everything I need is within a mile of my apartment. I can and do walk everywhere, even in the winter.
I was raised in a suburban house and now have my own. In my apartment days I never felt complete or successful. It's hard, after all, to escape the imprinting of youth. Suburban life has its critics, but I think it's pretty good. It's quiet. It's a house and land I own. I have hobbies. What's not to like?
Fences are mostly to keep dogs in. Kids too, to an extent. That way they can run around and play without suddenly ending up in the street. Then the kids get older or the dogs go on a leash and they can go out of the yard. Chainlink and wooden are both normal. The upside IMO about chainlink is that a strong storm can't knock it over unless a tree lands on it or something. Wood plank walls tend to act like sails lol
chain link is a bitch to keep up. that's the downside. the new fences aren't even wood anymore. no need to treat of paint and they won't rot.
American suburbia is just about the safest place on planet earth. Really hoping those 500k houses come back down to 200k though because they're not worth it.
Laurence, when you saw the lawns in Florida in 1990 they may have ALL been green and more pristine because we don't have snow or cold weather to make the grass yellow part of the year. --- Just saying. Also, the people with the nicest lawns are pretty much old people who have a lot of time to cultivate their perfect lawns, and in Florida we do have a LOT of old people.
Yea he is bothered about the squirrels, wait till you have gators on the lawn.
Or dry periods during the summer
@@katherinegarlock2249 Yup. Exactly.
@@tomsherwood4650 gators are mostly harmless to humans, attacks on humans are quite rare. Now if you have a small animal like a dog, just don't let them near any body of water. If there is a body of water, unless it is something like a pool. Just assume there is a gator in it.
@@tomsherwood4650 I have lived in Central Florida for 63 years and I lived the FIRST 20 YEARS on a lake, and I have NEVER, not once, seen a gator in the wild. Though I think your chances of seeing one on the golf course are MUCH higher in South Florida because of that giant swamp down there called The Everglades, and how all of South Florida's cities are encroaching on that giant swamp full of gators . . . and some crocodiles.
In my suburban neighborhood, we learn the dog names first and refer to neighbors as "Fido's mom", etc. 😀
Hey
Re: conversations with fellow dog owners… yes, it is definitely a thing. Mostly, I know people based on who their dogs are. Couldn’t tell you most of the humans’ names, but I usually know the dogs’ names.
Unless you have a Pit bull ! 😊
@@jljordan1 even then I probably know the dog’s name. Not because we’ve stopped and chatted but because I’ve heard the owner saying “Fido, Leave It!” :)
@@kmw4359 lol that reminds me of a dutch punk band who had an album with a big old dobermann on the front cover and the title "fifi"
Down here in the Southwest, you'll see less grass lawns and more xeriscaping especially where water use is a high concern. My previous place was on 10 acres in an old olive orchard up in Northern California; now here in Prescott, AZ I'm on a 1/4 acre with almost no vegetation other than a couple of trees. Oh, and Prescott is a big dog loving town.
White picket fences require a lot more maintenance than chain link.
You're not actually in suburbia but a very nice neighborhood of the city
Suburbs really do have real gardens 😊
I was born in Chicago, in Bucktown area, moved to a town 50 miles north in the 50's and for the last 30+ years been a "cheese head" ( Wisconsin) I enjoy your videos. Loved the one about the weather 😂
I lived in Madison for 10 or 11 years. I really felt his pain on that weather video! You know someone is in a bad way when they start counting the days since the new year that they have seen the sunshine!
He lives outside the city limits. He’s in a sub urb.
@@norlockv Oak Park feels very much like city
I don't think there is enough shown to know that for sure. I get the impression he might be in one of the older suburbs close to the edge of the Chicago. Places like Berwyn, Cicero, or Summit all look like this.
If you are going to rake leaves in your yard get a leaf rake. It is much easier than the garden rake you have.
Gosh, how nice, a person brought you a cake.. I don’t even know my neighbors names and haven’t most places I’ve lived.. and it’s not for lack of trying. Dinner invites, goodies delivered, don’t be unappreciative feel fortunate . 👍
I can’t believe you used Suburban Commando as a reference about Suburbia! I worked on that movie years ago. Hulk Hogan was the nicest guy. Also the Undertaker played one of the character. Thanks for you channel!
Thank you for your incredible contribution to my childhood! You are the true hero!
Rural beats Town for me. Baseline emotion was too nervous living in town for me. Even in a safe neighborhood I felt to close to my neighbors.
I can't mow my lawn, my neighbor has graciously stepped in and does it for me. I suspect there's a lot of that happening for us older folks.
Happy to have you in Chicago Lawrence. Thanks for coming.
I personally love the suburbs and don’t plan on moving. My husband and I just bought our first house about 10 mins from where we both grew up in Highlands Ranch, CO. I think we might be one of the youngest in our neighborhood at 31, but we love our new home and we can easily see our parents if we want to or if they need us for something.
Colorado is lovely wherever you are
As I get older quiet is what I want.
Sit on my deck enjoy the day with a drink and not have craziness. Especially with what's going on with our government and society.
I agree. I want peace and quiet with a few birdies singing and more peace and quiet. I have a neighbor that sits on her step and yells into the phone like when I was a child and long distance meant talk loud! I don't think that is an issue anymore.
"No Soliciting" sign next to a "Beware of Dog" sign.
We had a neighbor that would randomly mow our front hill when he mowed his. In return, my husband would randomly mow his too. :).
I see somebody already beat me to it below, but just to reiterate: In America, a garden is where you specifically grow plants, like a vegetable garden, flower garden, etc. The territory in front of your house is the front yard, and behind, it's the backyard. Calling the whole lot a "garden" sounds very bizarre. My own backyard is like a forest , nobody would ever say it's a "garden." lol. Sheesh. One quirk is that front yard is spelled as two words, while backyard is one.
When my British friend visited me here in the States she asked why nobody had a fenced yard in the front of the house, only fenced yards were in the back of houses. I didn’t really know the answer but guessed that it is perceived that you live in an unsafe neighborhood if you have the front yard fenced in. Like you are keeping people away from the front door. I thought it was an interesting observation on her part and definitely a difference in what we perceived as welcoming and safe in a house.
Just wait, my household gets several offers during the summer to fix/replace windows. Which we never take them up on because we want the original windows to the house that were put in the late 1800's.
The thing that gets lost in the urban/suburban discussion is the fact that both have good and bad things about them, but really urban life is for youth and singles, and suburban life is more for families and older people who appreciate quiet. Suburbs are also for people like me who like being close to the city life but also enjoy being in the countryside and nature.
Would disagree with that. Kids have no independence in many suburbs due to needing a car to get just about anywhere, so are dependent on parents. I can’t imagine growing up in a place where every house is a giant McMansion on a giant lot, seems so isolated. I used to walk to stores, friends houses, school, etc as a kid. Also, suburban sprawl is just about the worst thing for nature
@@kurtwerber8729 i think it depends on the suburb. if it’s your newer cul-de-sac type, yeah it’s terrible for kids. it is safe but for kids its bland. streetcar suburbs are different tho, or maybe old downtown of a suburb that was initially a small town
@@UserName-ts3sp its not really bland, if you look at early 1900s suburbs when they were first build literally every house looks exactly the same, no variation of floorplans either like you would find in post war suburbs, they only look good after 100 years of individualization
@@circleinforthecube5170 by bland i mostly mean lack of walkability and not being able to really go anywhere without a car
@@UserName-ts3sp sorry, i thought you meant it architecturally, the empty lawns everywhere is the blandest part because they could've been businesses or libraries or literally anything else other than plain boring ass grass
I agree with others in that you live in a neighborhood. My parents used to live in Chicago and always would talk about "the neighborhood". In their stories, it was quite a place. To me, your houses are on top of each other. You walk a dog and, yes, you will meet others doing the same with their dogs. Kids ride their bikes to the store (there is always "the store" on blocks in neighborhoods).
I live in a subdivision that is technically in a rural area. My lawn is not that big for the area, but it's massive compared to yours. We don't like keeping up with plants, so we don't have any.
I grew up in the country (parents had their fill of cities) but I much prefer suburbia. Here, we may nod at each other when passing by with our dogs, but that's about it.
If you are a more rural area I think technically you live in the exurbs. If you’re outside of the county of a medium to large city it would be an exurb.
I get the impression he might be in one of the older suburbs close to the edge of Chicago. Places like Berwyn, Cicero, or Summit all look like this. Houses right next to each other with maybe a 4 feet wide gap, garages in the back off an alley, almost all of them narrowish but more than one story. After you get out of the immediate suburbs (in my area is literally one degree of separation from the city limits) you start to get towns that look more like the traditional image of a suburb.
Remember years ago when we moved from near suburbs to fringe suburbs the quiet was deafening. I was like go start a car , get the dogs barking something I can’t sleep it’s too quiet!!!!!!
Oh I love you and your channel. I am a S.A. and so my culture is British😀. My grandparents were British so I follow everything British. We have lived in USA for 30 years now. Quite a culture shock in the beginning. Love it though👍
The town I’m near has old mansions where the former lawns/gardens surrounding them have been subdivided into average sized middle class lots. A lot of times the mansion isn’t a home anymore. It’s a restaurant, b&b, or a law office.
Most of the Mansions where I live have either become part of the preservation Society or subdivided into condos. If people can afford to keep them as one family homes, they are usually summer homes. I used to live in a historic mansion, in an apartment, and there was a business on the first floor. They said they sold the building, but I think that the LLC sold it to a smaller portion of the group, which became a new LLC, and they just revamped it. It's now listed as a one-family home, they put in a swimming pool with an automatic cover, and they are only renting it in the summer months for 125,000 a month
We grew up in a development that was built on an old Gimbel’s estate. The builder had bought the old stone mansion & surrounding land. Was very picky about who he sold to & what kind of house they wanted him to build. Mock Tudors were big back then. He limited our 25 house street to 4. Spread out & different sizes.
An area next to our subdivision had an estate sized home with several acres surrounding it. A developer bought the land and instead of demolishing the home, they remodeled it to be a high-end club house.
as someone who lives in a suburb, all these things are true. except for the abandoned houses. those aren't a thing in my particular suburb. at most you might have an empty house for a month before it's sold and someone moves in. mostly though they're sold by the time the realtor puts a "Coming Soon" sign up in the yard.
people watch this stuff on TH-cam and think it's normal. the US is such wonderful place it pisses me off that people think yt is reality.
I've lived in several suburbs with exactly the type of abandoned houses he's talking about. Sometimes they're empty for years at a time.
Your neighborhood actually looks ok to me, though different from the West Coast where I live. Here, most yards are fenced in, dog or no dog, at least partially. That helps if you dont want to talk to people, which I generally don't. I've lived in big cities, suburbs, and now, an exurb. We have bears, coyotes, and Elk here. I once ran into a huge Elk as she was coming around my house. That was exciting!
Oh, I neant to add that my present house is NOT rectangular. It's partly hexagonal, and otherwise C shaped.
In a lot of suburbs, there are are zoning laws were you can't have fences.
As long as that Elk did not runnafter you!! They are such majestic animals.
My UK friends feel uncomfortable with my front lawn being wide open - no fence, no hedge (or both). 😲
If you're wondering why everything is so rectangular, look up the American Public Land Survey System, and how it was applied to the Northwest Territory (where we live), versus the use of metes and bounds for surveying, which came to the Eastern US from England. Oh, and welcome to the Chicago Suburbs...I wasn't sure if you'd actually moved out of the city until now.
Thank you! I've been trying to remember the name of the plan. And, yes, it is the reason why almost everything west of Appalachia is in rectangles. So much more precise and convenient.
the only thing it yields to is water; running water, flood plains, etc...
@@kathywiseley4382 Yeah, my area is in the Appalachian foothills and most of our counties are NOT rectangle - more rhombus, trapezoid, or triangular if you were to try to straighten out all of the squiggly lines.
The surveys began shortly after the Liuisisna purchase. The surveys led to the western expansion of the new territory. My ancestors purchased, not homesteaders, their land in Misdouri before or just after statehood. The land still had a few native Indians in the area, BTW.
Each state began their expansion differently, so each had its own time of giving out land to settlers. Kansas divided land according to what was convenient for the railroads. Towns were set up sling the planned railroads. Quite the interesting explanation there.
metes and bounds can still be rectangular. my house in Missouri, built in 1880, is in metes and bounds, and it's a perfect rectangle.
the only difference is you use landmarks instead of surveying stakes as the start point, but most have been converted for ease.
There's so much more to learn, Laurence. Welcome to American suburbia ❤
Little too old and near the urban center to be an American Dream Post-WWII real Suburban Neighborhood.
There's even a movie called Suburbia.
This is not an insult. Just a curiosity. Many people in big cities don't own cars. But almost everyone owns a vehicle in suburbia. Cheers. Congrats on the home. Oh, and there is something called a leaf rake. It will be a joy to use.
Laurence, you only need wait for your suburbia to become the city. This happened to my neighborhood; it was laid out in 1890 as a "streetcar suburb" of Austin, Texas, intended to be an upscale rural retreat. Now, 130 years later, the city has long since absorbed us and my house, once designated "out in the country," is part of the central city and some sources lump it with downtown.
Everyone thinks that there's a "normal" and that "normal" is typically associated with what they grew up in - but the reality is that the world doesn't stop moving, it's always changing, always evolving. Well, mostly, I definitely know of some towns that are stuck well in the past(rural farm or industry towns). Anyway, expect change because it's on it's way lol.
@@RyTrapp0 Normal is good. Not that your comment has anything to do with the OP.
Hell, with as fast as Texas is growing that happens within 30 to 50 years. When I built a house in Mansfield in 2001, Dallas was in view but still very desolate. Now it's just another suburb and 3 times the size.
@@RyTrapp0 And what does THAT have to do with the price of wheat in India?? I remarked on the way cities grow and absorb once-remote communities in the process.
@@DGTelevsionNetwork Yep! Just ask Round Rock. When I moved to Austin in '75, Round Rock was 15 miles away and 5,000 people. Today, the two have grown completely together and RRk's population is 100,000.
Lawrence, thank you SO much for your “arid” British sarcasm❣️💯 I L❤️VE it!
Oh my gosh, so true about the dogs! We live in suburbs of Milwaukee. Our first home was in a suburb that was more starter homes, closer to city. Not as true there. But after we moved to another suburb, a wealthier one, we realized “holy cow, everyone has a dog”. My son with autism was terrified of dogs (terrified is an understatement) so we definitely became aware. Fast forward, through therapy and visits with a family member’s new puppy, my son overcame his fear and we then got a puppy. Suddenly we are meeting and chatting with neighbors on our walks. I know all the dog names better than the human names. We call them all my dog’s buddies. 😆
Suburban living and comfort can often depend on your neighbors. They may make your life miserable, but you can set an example. I for one feel lucky that my neighbors seem nice and inviting. I’m looking to project that welcome sentiment.
Still better than an HOA
Still better than Europe
@@MikehMike01 don't limit yourself europe is huge and has many great areas, explore and expand your horizons.
@@samanthab1923 You are 100% correct, unless your HOA consists of only 3-5 members, of which you are participating. And they all need to be owners at stake. The HOAs that are outsourced are money and life-dream drains, a lot have absolutely no human connection to the community they claim to serve. The HOA I was part of when I owned a condo consisted of 3 owners (1 tiny Boston building), and we sort of made our own rules. All owners.
@@markbradley7323 Europe is a dump, been there not interested UK is decent
Strange. When I think of how Brits live I think of "Keeping up Appearances." The tight little neighborhoods with small yards (if any at all) and the cute styles of packed together houses. Too bad they got old, that was one of my favorite shows! I very much enjoy your channel! You make points I never have even thought of!
And a dog living in a car at Oslo's 😂
I love that show so much
Brits don't know what the f**k they are talking about when it comes to the US. not a single clue. you can't just visit here and think you got it all figured out.
OH! Now I understand why you've been using the wrong rake for the fallen leaves!! What you have there is a "garden" or "hard rake," meant for clearing larger heavier things from around soiled or mulched areas. You need a "yard" or "soft rake" for clearing leaves from the grass. The shovel from that video was hilarious though! 😂
I immediately saw that rake and thought "that is the wrong rake for leaves."
He has a 'bow' rake. used for moving heavy things, like dirt. He needs a 'tine' rake , used for fluffy things like leaves or loose grass.
Me too
Guess you got lucky with your quiet neighborhood. When we bought our house, we got along pretty well with our neighbors. Time has changed that with older (quiet) neighbors moving and crappy people moving in. Our property went from 3 neighbors to 7, all surrounding our 125 x 175 property. We are now the 'old' people here, and the friendly neighbors are now only 3. Lots of yelling at kids, loud fights (the adults!), extremely loud parties, and drunks being obnoxious at all hours of the day and night! I used to be able to work in my gardens and enjoy the sounds of nature. Now it's listening to others' music being played loud enough to hear several blocks away or families fighting (sober and drunk)!
Enjoy your quiet! It's a rare opportunity.
Hello, sir. American here. If you do not want solicitors, put up a "no solicitation" sign in your yard. That should work.
We're down the street from mansions. Our grass always looks like it's on death's doorstep but our neighbor's looks like a carpet, which is weird because we pay the same gardener to look after it. Even though it is quiet, the neighbors still find plenty to complain about on Nextdoor, like, "Somebody knocked on my door!"
Do you have a 2nd fridge in the garage yet?
Lawrence, your leaf raking would be a lot more productive and take a lot less energy if you'd buy a leaf rake. What you're using is a garden rake which is a wonderful tool for leveling loose earth or for levelling the gravel in a driveway but sucks for raking up leaves with. A leaf rake has longer, often spring loaded tines and holds and releases a much larger volume of leaves than a garden rake can. Save the garden rake for evening piles of mulch. Work smarter, not harder. :)
what a joy you are - this made my day!
As someone who lives in the suburbs in Illinois, no one near me has chain link fences. It’s all wooden or vinyl fencing.
Also, many people around me have some type of garden. Usually a flower garden in the front yard and a vegetable garden in the back.
My favorite movie about suburban life? “The ‘Burbs” with Tom Hanks! A must watch. Another Tom Hanks movie, not as good, but also an insight into new home ownership is “The Money Pit”.
A great nail gun seane
There's a movie called Suburbia. Surprised you didn't choose that
I can't get past Blue Velvet.
I treat my front door like my phone: if I don't know you, I'm not answering.
I love watching those channels where the lawn company will come out and take care of someone's grass and landscape and everything for free... 😊 Oftentimes the folks that live there are disabled or going through a real rough time and taking care of their yard really makes them feel less stressed or just cared about
Best part about suburbia is the required “all men must fire up lawn mower at sunrise” law.
Ooo Laurence, welcome to dog walking in America. You can try to be a curmudgeon if you like but your cute pup will give you away every time and will force you to become a dog-loving, people person. 😂
He's so adorable, I would have to stop and say hi if I saw him! The dog, not Laurence. Sorry, Laurence
"No Soliciting" signs on homeowners' doors are very effective,
I added (using small individual sign letters) NO DOOR TO DOOR ANYTHING below the sign’s verbiage. It really helped.
I've lived all my 51 years in Australian suburbia. My no. 1 takeaway is that driving your car is the centre of your existence. I can only imagine American suburbia is moreso. How does Lawrence manage to live there without driving?
His wife drives for the both of them.
I grew up in Chicago and I lived so far on the Southside, that it was like a suburb. It is called Chatham and it is middle to upper middle class black area. Perfectly shaped lawns, clean alleys and sidewalks. Boring sometimes, especially on Sundays.
To this day it is still well kept up.
Your observations are pretty much spot on. Being here all my life, I'm quite blind to everything you mentioned, but now that you mentioned it, I agree and can see it from your red spectacles. Welcome home!!!
Laurence, I have lived in several different kinds of places here in America. I am American. For the first time ever I am living somewhere that I have always wanted to. I live in the country. Rural Wisconsin. I moved here in 2005 and I never tire of absolute silence, except in the winter when the wind literally howls. For instance, if I'm outside and I hear someone speaking, something is definitely wrong. Literal silence.
right on Sue. the wife and i retired to rural Maine. fantastic.
@@tekay44 we moved here after my husband retired. I had a job here before we got here. We lived in our camper while we built our house. We arrived on a Saturday and I started work here on Monday. I'm retired now and I just love it here. I live about an hour from where I grew up. I live within an hour from 3 different cities, but stuck happily in the middle. The closest grocery store is 10 miles from my house. Maine must be beautiful.
The lawn thing falls apart in the west the more drought and desert-prone your climate is. There is a movement in Southern California to move back toward drought tolerant and native plants because they don't require extensive irrigation like non-native grasses. A lot of people also plant drought-tolerant pollinator-friendly yards that do look a bit more like an English garden than what you have in parts of the country that get precipitation during spring, summer, and autumn. California gets almost all its precipitation in the winter. Arizona gets summer thunderstorms, but it doesn't soak in because of the heat and dryness.
So weird. Where I live you have to have grass because we get so much rain and snow that you need grass to hold the ground together
@Casey Matto irrigation is severely restricted in some parts of the west. People have been ripping out for synthetic turf or converting their entire fron yards into butterfly gardens or drought tolerant landscaping or native plants. IMO it's actually much prettier to have all the native stuff.
Oooo Laurence! Too many people have to be continuously entertained. That's why so many people take "quiet" to mean "boring" or they like drama. To me quiet means quiet. Not people distracting me with their drama. People can't be bothered or can't stand living in their own thoughts. When I hear someone call an area or town "boring" I take it to mean they are a needy, unimaginative person that hates being stuck in their own skin.
Bingo. 👍
A house a couple of blocks away from me had a very nice lawn with nicely contoured ground, lots of flowers, and a very nice palm tree. Mine just has bushes against the house, an ugly tree on either side, and one larger tree in the center
In re. lawns in America. No, we do not garden or perform any other ascetic tasks aside from mounting, once and for all, Christmas lights, which shall remain attached thereto, forever. We prefer that simple commercial look (your S & L, your local school) which, aside from needing tons of fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides, is no trouble at all.... What it comes down to is that the mobility of Americans, chiefly because of jobs, requires you to abstain from really personal touches to your real estate because you may have to put it up for sale any time.
I used to live on the NW side of Chicago, near my grandparents. Their observation was that any front yard with an abundance of flowers--aka a garden--was probably owned by immigrants (Polish, in our area). Back yard gardens were more common but not universal. In fact, I think someone on that street completely paved over their back yard.
Living a quiet life with neighbors you can trust is a very good thing. There are a lot of people that would love to have that living situation.
They still have to drive to work and to do any shopping, among many other things. I do not own a car, and I never will. Excellent walking and biking infrastructure, with plenty of shops and parks within easy walking distance, along with great public transportation, makes that possible. Just by walking to and from work each, I get more than the minimum amount of exercise for optimal health. I also never gain weight, regardless of how much beer I drink or how much I eat. I lived in the US for about 50 years, and I am glad to be away from all that suburban nonsense. A local cop actually harassed me for walking on an empty summer street in Texas, frisking me and calling in my license number. He trumped up a reason, but he was profiling me. He gave me an enduring ugly memory. That is his legacy with me.
@@kaninma7237 Nice try. Never gain weight no matter how much you drink or eat? lol good one. Sounds like you've picked up the British habit of hyperbole.
@@kaninma7237 In Pittsburgh, for example, if you don't want to be totally car dependent you can live somewhere like Mt. Lebanon, which is outside of the city limits and completely interconnected with sidewalks and bike paths. Older suburbs that were built up prior to the 1950s and 60s are generally very walkable. The idea that suburban life has to be an entirely car dependent one is a major misconception.
Honestly, most US cities don't have good public transit anyways. New York City is the only city in the US where the majority of the population uses public transportation, and in Most US cities, not even 30% of the population uses it (the majority of those sitting under 20%). The odds that someone works right down the block from where they live is slim, and statistically not that many people bike or walk to work (even in cities), so most are driving to and from work anyways, excluding New York which is the only exception, so statistically most people rely on a car regardless of whether they're living in the city or not.
Point is, if where, and how you live, makes you happy, that's great, but that doesn't mean it's what's right for the rest of the population, especially considering that the majority of the population seemingly doesn't want to, or doesn't care enough to live that way.
@@kaninma7237 on god. Fuck having a car. In Minnesota while I was walking I was profiled too with my friends in the suburb and they asked us if we were breaking into any houses
@@kaninma7237 and that was before George Floyd. The police in Minnesota have always been corrupt. I saw a police officer hit my mom with a police bat inside my house as a kid and she was just standing still and then made eye contact with me
As for the knocks on the door, our city has a DO NOT Knock Registry and you get a sticker to put on your doors. Fairly effective. If someone does happen to be rude enough to knock, I simply don't answer the door. Just because you come to my door, it doesn't mean I have to acknowledge you. Our city also has way too many rules about the front yard. so we have to keep it mowed. The back, however, is ours ( not sure they agree, but their rules are made to be broken. We don't use any chemical fertilizers or weed killers, so even the front has delightful flowers that they may consider weeds like clover. This year I got clover seeds and a bunch of wildflower seeds to scatter in back. You do you!
your comment on all the rectangles reminded of 1963 Pete Seeger singing "Little Boxes"
All made out of ticky-tacky, all look just alike!!!!
ok. you got me. subscribed. Have always liked you Brits and your TV humor/Sci fi. Glad you're here.
Never been the first one to view. We live in a town of 1500 in South Dakota and no crime I'll take that over boredom.
I considered moving to Madison Sd. 10,000 people. 4000 student state college. When I asked where the Home Depot or walmart was, They told me in Brookings of Sioux Falls. 45/50 miles away. A one hour drive each way. They are 3 to 6 miles from where I live. and I have 8 grocery stores within 7 miles.
it's interesting because so much of what you say in this video is just not the case where I live at all (Arizona). Most people don't have grass in their yards here, for example. And there certainly aren't people coming to your house with cakes, at least not in my experience. For some reason all of our roads are tarmac despite the heat, and there aren't any real sidewalks to speak of, so other than dog-owners no one walks at all. Also we usually have fences/walls between houses. Everything is certainly rectangle here just like it is where you live though.
Honestly, having grown up in American suburbia, I HATE them. Part of this is because I have a type of neurodivergency that made learning to drive much, much harder than it was for my siblings and peers. Trying to walk out of my suburb would take almost an hour of meandering through this massive maze of near-identical houses. I would take these walks almost every day because it was so boring inside, I needed to get anywhere else, even if it was just an empty park or a crappy strip mall. If you can drive and get somewhere interesting quickly, I guess they aren't so bad in the short term. But in the long term, that makes us dependent on gas in a way that is bad for both the environment and the economy. Small towns, in my experience, have all the benefits of suburbia but without the monotony or inaccessibility.
It's so wierd how so many people drive everywhere, no wonder the sidewalks are so desolate and lacking little shops.
It doesn't completely stop the door knockers but it helps, a simple "No Soliciting" sign. You can buy them just about anywhere, you can put it on your door or on a post by your steps or on the fence. In some communities it's illegal to solicit if the sign is posted which means you can call the police and have the offender ticketed. Picket fences have a lot of upkeep and take more work to put up because you have to make the pickets appear straight. When the ground freezes and thaws the fence raises or settles in 1 spot and suddenly it's all wonky.
I am dealing with a new puppy now. It has been nine years since my old dog and I dealt with puppy pandemonium all day. I left them alone to work out their differences and when I came back they were In completely different rooms. Old dog was taking a nap.
As someone who grew up in a Midwestern suburb, I couldn't think of a better place to raise a child. (be raised)
I'm not saying it was "perfect" by any means, but it was peaceful and (mostly) safe. (which I think is VERY important)
Hope you are enjoying your suburban life too Lawrence.
Laurence you know you LOVE it!
I enjoy living in the country away from the people and houses right on top of each other. We have about a dozen houses on my street in a 1 mile stretch and farms in between. I grew up in a subdivision and it was nice when we had good neighbors and horrible when we did not...
My real estate agent told me "good fences make good neighbors"
@@LindaC616 The problem is, loud neighbors project over good fences. I like my peace and quite and prefer not to hear the living embodiment of a Jerry Springer episode or Friday night house party.
For Heavens sake Lawrence, clean the paint-over off of those window frames ! These 'mission-style' elements are very nice to see. Their details are highly sought after. But, I don't call your neighborhood 'suburbia', to us, suburbia is farther out, your still 'city' by my standards !
Knowing you live in Chicago where I’m from makes me sooo much more excited to watch this
I've lived in the burbs in central Massachusetts for about 90% of my life. I love it! My town is tiny, about 8,000 people tops, only 2 stop lights . I will never move back to Boston, where I spent my college years, for all the money in the world.
That sounds suspiciously like the central MA town I grew up in...
@@SlabSheetrock Me, too! But mine is not a burb but a small town of about 5, 600 people. When I was a kid in the 70s we had 1300. I live in NY now but I sure miss my small town and love it when I go back to see my elderly dad.